The Spirit World is for everyone
the subtlety of mediumship, pleasantly haunted hotels, and finding your own way
I wish that people knew that mediumship is for everyone. So often, clients will say to me, “I don’t have abilities like you,” and then proceed to share a beautiful experience of mediumship with their loved ones in spirit. Mostly, this is due to misinformation. Mediumship experiences are not like how Hollywood depicts them. Mediumship is subtle, and as mediums, we move ourselves energetically to live in that subtlety.
This past weekend, my wife Rachel and I were in Salem, MA, celebrating our one-year wedding anniversary. The historic inn we stayed in boasts that our exact room, the George Washington room, was where the former president once stayed. He apparently left in the middle of the night because it was haunted. I love the energy in Salem, in that inn, and our room. I feel grounded and held by the spirit world when I’m there. Several times a day, tour groups would stop in front of our hotel and point to our room, telling the same haunting tales. At one point, we had opened our window after having run the fireplace for too long. We could hear the tour guide saying, “I have never once in seven years seen that window open.” We looked out to see tourists straining their eyes at us, trying to discern if we were real or imagined figures.
I had to fight the urge to stick my head out the window and yell, “Fear not! Ghosts are all around you, and they love you very much!” If you missed the article about ghosts, read my most recent FAQ about them here. Part of my work with the spirit world is to make it more accessible to people. I understand that it doesn’t always feel this way for so many reasons.
When I first began to really talk about my mediumship and share it with people, I felt like an overdramatic emotional wreck. I was juggling a lot of dysfunction, including an eating disorder, workoholism, and hiding that I was gay. I was entrenched in working for my family, trying to prove myself and, generally—be perfect. Managing people's perceptions of me felt like a full-time job.
My internal world felt extremely private and shameful. Even when I did want to share it, crying from happiness about the visions I was having did not exactly fit into the persona I had going.
My grandmother, who had died years earlier, would pop into the periphery of my vision, pulling at my mind. She would give me glimpses of what was about to happen, telling me where I could find an old letter opener from her desk and instructing me who to give it to. There was jewelry I inherited from her that she wanted my siblings to have. When I was devastated over how things in my life were breaking apart, she said, “It’s going to be okay, sweetheart.” I had forgotten she used to call me that, and hearing those words instantly made me relax.
Her messages meant more to me than my own cluttered thoughts. I would follow her instructions, staying up late, sitting in my dark living room with a legal pad, asking her questions, and writing down the answers she gave.
At some point, the spirit world became more real to me than this world, and I stopped caring what other people thought. I stopped wanting to be seen in an acceptable way and surrendered to who I was.
I woke up with these words playing in my mind: “I am guided in my every step by spirit that leads me towards what I must know and do.”
For someone not good at recalling phrases, the fact that this one plays so effortlessly through my mind is evidence of divine workings. It’s kind of wordy, but there it is.
Am I saying that everyone is meant to be a professional medium and spend their days giving readings to the grieving public? No, I don’t believe that would feel good to everyone for so many reasons. People dismiss and discredit mediumship, and it takes some self-development to get comfortable with this. Working outside of societal norms can feel isolating. If I hire a lawyer or an accountant and they don’t deliver me the result I desired (true story), I don’t say they are not a “real accountant” or “real attorney.”
Many of my clients and students say they are in the “mediumship closet,” as someone who didn't feel safe sharing part of my identity with the world for most of my life, I find this term deeply accurate.
It’s also hard having a business that depends on your energy levels—accepting that you won’t be able to help everyone in the way you want to all the time. All of the reasons that would stop someone from starting their own business might also stop them from pursuing mediumship professionally.
So, why would someone want to start learning about their own mediumship? The purest answer is that they feel called to. In my experience working with hundreds of developing mediums, it's best not to have a professional, financial, or self-serving goal.
Most people who develop their abilities do so because it hurts not to.
When mediumship is part of your soul's expression, and if you’ve hidden or suppressed this part of you, opening it back up can feel freeing and terrifying.
Whether or not you feel called to develop mediumship abilities, we all have a spirit team. Guides, spirit people meant to inspire us, or perhaps loved ones in spirit who are available to offer us unconditional love and guidance along our journey.
I find that it’s especially easy to connect with our own passed loved ones and equally more difficult to know without question that we are. There is an energetic pathway between us and them. Sometimes, it can feel so effortless and familiar that we dismiss it. I explained this to a client recently: I have a sensor on my steering wheel that goes off if I take my hands off the wheel. If I’m tense or gripping too tightly, it fools the sensor into thinking I’ve let go because I’m holding on tighter than ever. It can’t seem to notice the difference. When we are immersed in something, it can be difficult to recognize it. Learning what it feels like to connect and disconnect can bring so much clarity.
Saying yes to who I am has brought me so much peace. If the spirit world would have told me several years ago that I’d be celebrating a year of being married to my wife in this pleasantly haunted hotel I couldn’t have concieved of it. Knowing what I do now, I understand they don’t offer directions, only to trust that you are being guided.
When we allow ourselves to loosen our grip and engage in a back-and-forth conversation, there can be an expansion of our awareness that leads to much more.
Sending love,
Sheryl
P.S. I am teaching a 12-week mediumship mentorship in January that’s open to all levels of ability. This class just opened to the public, and there are a few spaces left. Click here to learn more or join the group.
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